End of term report - Crystal Palace

Season's are never dull at Selhurst Park, from Danny Butterfield to administration here's the story of Crystal Palace's 2009/10...

1. If you could sum up your clubs season in one word, what would it be?

Traumatic

2. Everyone knows exams are getting easier today (that’s a fact - I read it in the Daily Mail) but how would you grade your team’s performance in 2009/10? Please show your workings out (i.e. tell us why you’ve given them that grade!)

I guess you could break this down into the whole ‘effort’ vs. ‘achievement’ debate but I think when it comes down to it, for the overall management of the club it would have to be an F, with the efforts of the players in an unbelievably bleak and turbulent season getting a B+.

3. Happy with the teacher (gaffer)?

Technically speaking we don’t currently have one (unless you want to count Brendan Guilfoyle...) so I guess it comes down to my thoughts on the two we had last season. Mr. Warnock came in for a bit of stick at the time of his jump to QPR but I don’t think anyone could really blame him if they’re honest. Indeed the reaction when he came back for the penultimate home game at Selhurst Park was largely positive, summing up what I feel should be a huge amount of credit for an excellent three (give or take) seasons in charge.

Ultimately, you also have to give credit to Paul Hart for securing (for now) the club’s Championship status. He was a calming and dignified figure at a time when the club was pitched against a rather chaotic backdrop, however I think most fans, whilst grateful, are looking to the future for a younger and fresher name and I think it’s wise that he’s moved on. A very classy guy though, who deserves to find himself a job with a little less stress...

4. Who should go to the top of the class as your team’s star pupil(s)?

In terms of the shifts put in and the creation of a ‘never say die’ attitude within the camp, every player deserves a pat on the pack for the way they’ve performed this season. Ours is/was a squad which was never the most technically gifted or aesthetic but there are a number of characters who have given their all over the past nine or ten months.

Particular mentions need to go to combative central midfielder Neil Danns who we were finally able to get a full season out of and who contributed a number of vital goals as well as several lung busting, box-to-box performances. Signing of the season had to be Darren Ambrose on a free transfer, who finally seemed to find a home where he could show all the unrealised potential people knew he had. 20 goals from a midfield player is a sensational effort, and his excellent set piece delivery was also behind a lot of the team’s other goals (not that there were that many).

Finally, once again (he’s now been the clubs player of the year three seasons in a row) Julian Speroni has been absolutely monumental in goal, keeping us in game after game with a string of vital saves. Like most 21st century goalkeepers he’s an athletic shot stopper who excels in one on one situations, but over the past few years he’s developed his aerial game, meaning he comes for (and claims) the vast majority of crosses and corners that come into his box. Not that I want him to leave or anything, but how he’s not been snapped up by a Premiership club yet is beyond me.

5. And who should sit themselves in the corner as the school dunce(s)?

Not that I want to be accused of copying and pasting, but this season has been all about the pulling together and closeness of the squad, with few shirking their responsibilities during some trying and testing times.

It’s hard to go through a season when every player sets a high standard though, and I think a player that the crowd has occasionally got on the back of has been the captain Shaun Derry. There have been games where his passing has been all over the place and the legs seem to have gone. It must be said however that Derry continues to display a fantastic affection for the club and was outstanding in the vital game against Sheffield Wednesday.

Elsewhere on the pitch I don’t think many will be too unhappy to see the back of Stern John, who despite a couple of important goals at the end of the season, didn’t exactly set the place on fire and who I don’t think would’ve been forgiven if his stoppage time miss on the final day had proved consequential. Finally (Big) Claude Davis, at times this season was an absolute rock at the back, but his ill-discipline and penchant for just punching an opponent for no reason didn’t exactly help the team.

6. What are the moments this season that made you want to break out in a ‘Mourinhoesque’ charge across a pitch?

The FA Cup run this season led to some memorable moments (not least Danny Butterfield’s ‘perfect’ seven minute hattrick which knocked out Wolves) but given the sheer pressure, gravity and tenseness of the occasion, emerging successful from the epic, nail-biting, finger crossing, pray to any God you can think of survival showdown on the last day at Hillsborough was one of the most exhilarating experiences I’ve ever had as a football supporter. It may not be over the top to say that the 90 minutes could have been the most vital in the history of the club.

7. And what are the moments that made you want to grab a dumbbell and shout “die! die! die!”

26th January 2010; aka the Wall Street Crash and the day the proverbial roof fell in. Up until this point we were challenging for the playoffs, after it the true extent of our financial plight was revealed to the world. Just like with a nuclear bomb, the fall out was unsurprisingly depressing; 10 points deducted, star player sold, manager lost. The real things that made you angry though, were just how little as a fan you know of what is really going on at your club, how utterly moronic a lot of people who run football clubs are and the sheer embarrassment and disgust you have when the club you support has an unpaid bill of around £16,000 to an organisation like the St. John’s Ambulance.

Away from the spectre of huge debts, other moments that stuck in the craw were the infamous ‘phantom goal’ at Ashton Gate way back at the beginning of the season, far more depressing for the fact that it revealed just how unscrupulous and immoral football can be than anything to do with refereeing ineptitude (although it did confirm everything I thought about Gary Johnson). Thank the lord it wasn’t vital when all was said and done. Also, Sheffield Wednesday chairman Lee Strafford; shut your mouth and worry about your own club.

8. If your club could make one acquisition this summer, who would it be?

Rather than a ‘who’ it needs to be a ‘what’ in that it needs to be Selhurst Park. Any takeover needs to result in the ownership of the ground being reunited with the team otherwise the club will continue to be vulnerable to events like we’ve seen this season.

9. This is not all about you! There are 91 other football league teams out there, who are the best and worst players your clubs come up against?

The best – in no particular order;
Kevin Nolan
Alan Smith
Lee Camp
Jack Hobbs
Jose Enrique
Billy Sharp

The worst? One name – Tom Williams. I saw this guy play left back twice this season, for both Peterborough and Preston, and both times he put in two of the most inept performances I’ve ever seen in my life.

10. Finally, who were the best and worst opposition fans at your place this year?

Newcastle brought huge numbers and created a fantastic atmosphere at the ground, whilst credit also to the Blackpool and Peterborough fans who were both smaller in number but supported their team brilliantly. A word to for Sheffield Wednesday who we went into that last day scrap against, while their behaviour can be questioned they created a great atmosphere in both the games.

You never want to criticise fans that make the effort to go to games too much but for all their vaunted reputation, I’m always disappointed by Cardiff who never seem to live up to their billing. A word to for the Aston Villa fans; the atmosphere at Selhurst Park for the Cup game was absolutely electric but they were completely silent throughout despite there being quite a large number of them. Maybe they’ve just been neutered by being in the Premiership so long...